The Macchiaioli of Tuscany, James Whistler, Georges Seurat and the Australian Impressionists all like to sketch in oil on cigar boxes.
Borrani
Corot’s view from the Boboli Gardens, Thomas Cole, John Brett’s landscape masterwork, intimate view from local painters, and a portrait by Paul Sérusier.
Dante and Beatrice, the Black Death that opens Boccaccio’s Decameron, the death of Brunelleschi, Botticelli in his studio, and the de’ Medicis.
Sewing for Garibaldi’s redshirts, the flag of a castle, Sir Lancelot, fishermen and sailors, Pentecost costumes, and other purposes.
Bishop’s crosier, monarch’s sceptre, field-marshal’s baton, or just another fashion accessory?
From Corot to Sérusier, the American Thomas Cole to the British John Brett, a collection of superb landscapes of the city.
Paintings of the city of Florence recreating times past, from Dante’s meeting with Beatrice, to Lorenzo the Magnificent in the late 15th century.
In 1855, he joined the Macchiaioli and painted small oil sketches en plein air, which he later turned into finished landscapes in the studio. And histories.
There are several uncanny parallels with the Impressionists, including the importance of the tache and plein air painting, early critical hostility followed later by acceptance, and of course the tragic deaths of Sernesi and Bazille in war.
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